Michele di Robilant Leads Robilant’s New London Chapter

One of the main challenges long-established galleries face is building a succession structure that allows the gallery to survive and thrive beyond the founder who first defined its vision.  In some cases, however, those founders opt to forgo gallery succession in favor of new ventures prioritizing family succession. Take veteran Old Master and modern dealer Edmondo di Robilant, who, after a storied 22-year run at Robilant + Voena, is embarking on a new chapter alongside his son Michele di Robilant, with whom he will grow a new program at Robilant. Just in time for London Gallery Weekend, father and son are launching with “Nor here, Nor there,” an inaugural show that sets the tone for a globally minded program that encompasses everything from Old Master works to established modern masters and contemporary names.

Speaking with Observer ahead of the opening, Michele di Robilant acknowledged that Robilant+Voena’s defining strength was its hybrid identity: “That dual specialization was quite rare, and that is the magic of the gallery that I really want to keep.” Under his direction, Robilant + Voena had begun expanding its program to include contemporary voices, as with the Pascale Marthine Tayou show during Frieze in October. “My vision is to broaden the gallery’s focus and to support and champion contemporary artists of my own generation—talents I hope display those same skills and strengths as the historic masters the gallery has spent decades representing,” he added. Edmondo di Robilant brings decades of relationships, wisdom and expertise, while he brings what he hopes will be a fresh perspective. Together, according to Michele, they will be uniquely positioned to identify artists who can withstand the test of time.

Michele di Robilant sees the pressure of fixed costs, especially real estate, as the biggest structural challenge facing galleries today. He admires gallerists, particularly in London, who have learned to stay lean and focus on a single main venue—a model he wants Robilant to follow. The gallery’s Dover Street space remains central to its identity, providing a strong base of operations in London while keeping the operation flexible: “We have been there since 2004, and it is still certainly one of the hearts of London’s art world.”

While the gallery will present at fairs like TEFAF and Frieze Masters, where Robilant + Voena was a repeat exhibitor, the initial focus of the program will be on building something substantial beyond the commercial calendar. “I think what is going to change is that money should certainly go into building a brilliant program in one place before you have something to expand,” he explained. “That has been my absolute priority: first of all, to have a discourse with the people around me, to be inclusive to my local community and to recognize that there is still an amazing base in London.”

That said, Robilant is willing to explore flexible, carefully curated opportunities elsewhere in the world. Having already participated in NOMAD St. Moritz and at the inaugural edition in Abu Dhabi, the gallery will present at the new NOMAD Hamptons this month with a booth focused on modern works by artists such as Warhol, Picasso, Pistoletto, Fontana and Lalanne—a mix di Robilant believes makes sense for that geography’s collector base.

Di Robilant, who is in his 30s, is keenly aware of what younger collectors are looking for. He sees foot traffic, presence and lived experience around exhibitions as being fundamentally important, and believes that kind of engagement has to come from being there in person and relationship building. “I think there is a bit of a move back to making seeing art an experience as much as it is about the physical work,” he argued. “I think that engaging with new and younger collectors definitely requires moving more into the digital sphere, but it also comes from building my own connections and bringing them into these new spaces.”

Robilant’s contemporary program will reflect the tastes and concerns of this globally minded generation, with the goal of building a thoughtful, multicultural and diverse roster over time. Di Robilant’s main criteria in selecting contemporary artists will be their multifaceted practices and early institutional backing before major commercial exhibitions. The inaugural group show is emblematic of that approach, packed as it is with artists he encountered through major biennales including Venice, Taipei and the Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah. “I want each artist to have a practice that is sufficiently mature to already have curatorial and institutional interest, but still feel young, fresh and exciting,” he said.

“Nor here, Nor there” brings together artists whose practices operate within a liminal field of recognition, creating images, bodies and landscapes that feel strangely familiar without yielding any fixed point in memory. Their work invites an embrace of ambiguity and uncertainty as part of the current contemporary condition rather than resolving it. The roster features artists from diverse geographical and cultural backgrounds, including renowned Cuban artist Yoan Capote, emerging Hong Kong artists Isaac Chong Wai and Hung Fai, Amman-born sculptor Raya Kassisieh (b. 1991) and Venetian self-taught painter Vittorio Marella.

One advantage of working across Old Masters, modern and contemporary art, he says, is that the gallery is not forced to fill roster slots; it can wait until it finds artists whose work feels undeniable. “When you see a good artist, it should hit you like a thunderbolt,” he said. “I want to really wait and see, wait until I find someone incredible before I choose to work with them.” Each artist in the first show has a mature and compelling practice, and that is the standard he wants to maintain.

Robilant + Voena was traditionally Western-centered, but di Robilant aims to change that. “I don’t like the idea of limiting myself too much to one country or one continent. I am going to take each artist on a case-by-case basis and really focus on their practice.” Nor does he want to rush the process. “We will be working with single artists that we want to foster.”

Di Robilant is not afraid that the expansion into contemporary art could alienate existing clientele. Instead, he sees it as an opportunity to engage collectors who had previously associated the gallery only with Old Masters. “I think it is going to be quite a delicate game of picking which collectors we think will engage best with each individual exhibition,” he says. “We started to add contemporary artists, and we had done it quite successfully in the past. So, I see it as a fun opportunity and a fun challenge, not something I am scared or worried about.”

After “Nor here, Nor there” and NOMAD Hamptons, the gallery is planning a major exhibition during Frieze Masters featuring Old Master works and contemporary pieces—the kind of breadth few galleries are positioned to handle. Indeed, di Robilant was quick to point out that the dialogue between historical and contemporary works should never be forced. If a contemporary artist’s practice naturally lends itself to conversation with a modern or Old Master, the gallery is well placed to facilitate that. But if an artist has a more experimental practice and needs space to develop independently, he is equally committed to supporting that on its own terms while contextualizing their place within the broader art historical canon.

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